How Motorcycle Riding makes you Live in the Moment?

Motorcycle Riding is much more than an adventure activity. You get the adrenaline rush through bungee jumping as well as sky diving, but motorcycle riding, according to me, is a lot more than that. I have always loved traveling and I plan to travel as much as possible before my time runs out. But I am grateful that I started long distance touring on motorcycles, for it has been much more fun than simple traveling and adventure.

Riding a motorcycle literally forces you to live in the moment as you have to be focused and alert all the time. It gives you the freedom from your daily tensions and trivial issues putting you at peace with yourself. If you want to know why, compare motorcycle riding with other adventure sports. Even with bungee jumping and sky diving, you always have a safety net. A car also has a lot of safety features for the driver but in a motorcycle, it is much more risky and therefore it demands total and absolute attention of the rider.

As a rider, you have to be more alert as even a small mistake can lead to a big crash and severe injuries as you ride at high speeds on highways. Your reflexes must be very quick and any distraction from your daily life can be disastrous. Due to these conditions, you are forced to live in the moment, and forget about everything else, as the danger of death is very real. It feels like a state of bliss, where you are totally in the surroundings and you experience the wind, rains or the sun as the weather unfolds.

Never trade the thrills of living for the security of existence.

Never trade the thrills of living for the security of existence.

When you ride, you see vast open areas of land. Most of these are farms, some small hillocks or just plain barren lands. The serenity is broken only by a few restaurants and petrol pumps on the way. It kinds of clears your mind of all the unnecessary clutter which we allow to settle in our minds in our mundane routine. It is so peaceful when you see the rubber rolling on the tar and it feels like an escape. An escape where you can feel the chill in the air when you are in the ghats, where you can feel and get wet from every drop of rain, where you can see the sounds of various animals as you ride through the jungle, and where you can smell the scent of every tree and flower on the way. I can say that when I ride, I feel more alive, I can feel my breathing, I can feel myself once again.

So every now and then, I get onto my bike and ride out of the city. To leave behind all the tensions and so-called problems which accumulate in our daily lives. Getting onto my bike unsettles this dust and clears my mind so that instead I can focus on the only thing that matters, which is the current moment.

My weekly tweets archive for the week ending 2011-09-05

  • Most often when we talk about values and principles, we find people justify their actions by saying, "This applies… http://t.co/FMnBiDu #
  • Go out and just do it… You have less to lose that you think you have 🙂 http://t.co/RZ4CEHd #
  • PickaFight starts its Delhi Chapter today.. If you want to contribute, leave a comment..
    Read about us on… http://t.co/gDfXsDl #
  • I feel no piece of land is worth the amount of bloodshed both countries have shed over Kashmir.. Let there be… http://t.co/BWI2qfT #
  • Simple solutions can solve some of the most challenging problems we face today.. The irony is that we are stuck… http://t.co/0K7yrnX #
  • We need to think a little less, and feel a little more!! http://t.co/Kgrua6w #
  • I have realized that to evolve and grow, be it physical, emotional or spiritual growth, there will always be a… http://t.co/Szpq1yN #
  • Not just must read.. but must follow too http://t.co/H0VPNqR #
  • A Harsh and Bitter Truth http://t.co/akoTMa0 #
  • Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all #
  • 99acres.. Sukip… SaleRaja… Jivox… PickaFight… My learnings from working in different startups over the… http://t.co/1pnKsXp #
  • EID MUBARAK to all !! #
  • How was the government caught napping on the corruption issue? http://t.co/H3XehbI #
  • If anybody has any questions regarding the recent anti-corruption protests and the Jan Lokpal Bill.. please leave… http://t.co/P1GQnFP #
  • Protest, the tech way… http://t.co/mAeErIj #
  • Must Read article about education and its importance for all http://t.co/fR9kLnD #
  • Wonderful post.. Must read!! http://t.co/rqIsnKv #

What can I lose?

At every step new and unseen,
I am a little unsure and afraid!
It’s my choice, to go play outside,
Or just sit and rest in the shade!!

Every new idea I think and dream,
First seems crazy and idiotic!
But when I move ahead despite fears,
Results have not been short of magic!!

Sometimes I think and wonder,
The only one stopping me is myself!
Only if I can let go of the fearful me,
I can discover my true and real self!!

Thus every now and then,
I pick up an idea and just start!
For I have always been happiest,
When I have gone with my heart!!

Time will pass by and not wait,
Every second I have is hence precious!
Soon I realize what can I lose?
If I just do it, no point being cautious!!

You have nothing to lose but your chains - Karl Marx

You have nothing to lose but your chains - Karl Marx

7 Lessons from SaleRaja and other start-ups I have been associated with

When I joined my first job, work was on full swing to launch 99acres.com . I was part of the team which did all the technical work and the site was launched one month after I joined. Thereafter, I launched Sukip.com in Jan 2007 and Saleraja.com in Aug 2007. After moving to Bangalore, I worked with Jivox.com for 18 months. Recently I started PickaFight.in, this time as a non-profit initiative. In all these endeavors over the last six years, I got a good exposure to starting up and scaling up websites, both from a technical, product and business point of view.

There have been many lessons along the way, most of them learned the hard way. Here are seven important points I would like to share with one and all who might be interested in starting a web based business. Update – Here are eight more lessons which I wrote as a follow up article 🙂

1. Passion in what you are doing

Always do what you are passionate about. If you are starting a new website based business, it will keep you awake at nights and make you work on weekends. So it is very important that it is something you are really excited about.

2. Prioritize

In my first job, my boss gave me a valuable lesson, “In a startup, you will always have thousand things to do but not the resources to do all of them. The key is to prioritize among them and then keep your focus on doing the selected tasks to the best”. I have never forgotten this. You will always have more than your plate can hold. So prioritize, prioritize and prioritize.

Working in a startup can be totally fun and 'not like' work

Working in a startup can be totally fun and 'not like' work

3. Release regularly

We launched sukip.com after 6 months of development, and then SaleRaja.com was launched after just 11 days of coding. Release early, release often is the idea. Rather than planning and building a Taj Mahal after months or years of work, start with a basic model and then make changes based on market feedback. Because the customer is the best judge of your product. Period.

4. Understand technology driving your product

As a founder, you might not do all the coding for your product, but it is very important to understand the technology behind it. By doing so, you will be better prepared to perform your job when you step in the shoes of your sales guy or the product manager. In short, it will allow you to make better business decisions.

5. Work like a family

Starting a company is like raising a baby, and hence it is very important the atmosphere is very cordial and like a family. People need to trust each other, care for each other and treat the work as their baby. This family like work culture could be the difference between success and failure later on.

6. Hire people smarter than you or who fill your gaps

You might be smart, talented and hard working, but nobody can know or do everything. Hence it becomes very important to hire people smarter or more talented than you are, or who are talented in the areas where you have a skill gap. Many times people don’t do this for personal and ego reasons, but this is a valuable lesson which I have learned the hard way.

7. Work with people who share your value system

Although your work might not require you to deal with your moral and ethical values very often, it is better to work with people who share your value system. In times of crises, or in times of extreme excitement and growth, these value systems can sometimes prevent us from making big mistakes. At the same time, a difference in the value system can cause rift between the team as both parties might consider their beliefs as right and blame the other party for not understanding.

Why was the government caught unaware by the huge public support for India Against Corruption?

There is no hiding the fact that corruption is prevalent everywhere in India, with babus, bureaucrats and politicians sitting at the top of the list of ‘most corrupt people‘. Corruption has become the elephant in the room, which everybody knows you have to face at every walk of life, but nobody wants to discuss it or stand for a solution. We have to pay bribes to get your birth certificate, marriage certificate, death certificate and everything that comes in between.

New Malls, New Brands for a New Middle Class

New Malls, New Brands for a New Middle Class

I guess corruption seeped into our social fabric during the pre-1991 era when Nehruvian methods were followed and every big industry was a public sector company. State Bank of India, Bhel, LIC, BSNL, Indian Oil, NTPC and ONGC became the companies where everybody wanted a job, for it provided job security and ‘under the table‘ earning options too. People working in these companies formed the Indian middle class during the pre-liberalization era.

But after the economic reforms of 1991, competition opened up and many foreign companies set up shop in India. It also led to the emergence of the service economy with the booming of the BPO and IT sectors. A lot of youngsters started earning handsome salaries and a chance to travel abroad was no more a luxury. In the last 20 years, this population has become the new middle class. Compared to the previous middle class, these set of people are more young and ambitious, they speak fluent English, buy foreign brands and earn good salaries without any ‘under the table’ options. They work hard in a competitive but (mostly) honest environment to earn their living.

In a way, what happened after the 90s was that the middle class of people working in PSUs were replaced by the middle class of people working in the new service based economy. While the people in governance – the politicians and the babus remained the same. Very clearly, there was (and is) a disconnect between the governed and the government. With Parliament sessions shown live on TV, there are enough reasons for this new middle class to get frustrated with the politicians.

The protesters were mostly from the educated middle class

The protesters were mostly from the educated middle class

So when Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan and others started this movement against corruption, they just caught the right nerves of this middle class. They gave the middle class a ray of hope out of the otherwise hopeless situation they felt they were in. And with their youth and the ‘josh‘ (enthusiasm) it brings with it, they joined the movement in thousands and poured on the streets. Suddenly the sleeping, lazy, not caring about the country middle class awakened and to utter surprise of many, protested for a corruption free India.

Due to this disconnect between the government and the people, the government was caught totally unaware that where did this huge support to Anna Hazare came from. This middle class might be only 20-30% (and growing) of our population but even that means tens of crores of people, which is a big enough number for any government to take notice. And going forward, this middle class is only going to increase in number and become very critical to the political fortunes of those in power.

These are my views about why and how the government was caught unaware and committed harakiri by arresting Hazare and later releasing him in panic. And I think this educated and aware middle class will have a huge say in deciding the way our government create policies in the years and decades to come. Our politicians can no longer ignore the educated middle class as they have done for the last 50 years. Because, leave the protests and fasts alone, we are still a democracy, and as many Congress leaders have said in arrogance, “The public can throw them out in the next elections“.